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Final ‘08 Solano Housing Stats: All But One City Had Far More Sales, However…
January 12th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Market Update, Selling, Vallejo
It should come as no surprise that prices in Solano County were down in 2008. Nor that the number of sales county-wide increased (lower prices = greater affordability).
What was surprising though is that one Solano County city, Benicia, actually saw a decrease in both prices and sales volume — which was in marked contrast to its other Solano County neighbors. But when you look inside the numbers and realize what actually caused the spike in activity throughout the rest of Solano, you’ll see that Benicia should actually be quite pleased with its standing in the county.
I just ran the final 2008 residential sales statistics (click here or on the graphic below to see my complete report) and the stats show that countywide, prices in 2008 were down 36% from 2007 ($417,000 median sales price in ‘07 and $265,000 in ‘08). Sales activity, however, skyrocketed, with almost twice as many sales last year (4,899) than the year before (2,745) — a 178% increase.
In fact, Vallejo (1,473) and Fairfield/Green Valley (1,407) together combined for more sales in 2008 (2,880) than the entire county had in 2007. Those two cities saw their sales climb 227% and 219% respectively.
But the overall leader in terms of percentage, was Suisun City, with 239% more sales in 2008 than the year before. Of course, its median price, which dropped from $400,000 in ‘07 to $232,000 in ‘08, certainly played a huge part in attracting more buyers.
Benicia was the only city in our Solano County market that saw fewer sales last year (239) than previous year (275) — a 13% decrease. However, as a tradeoff, Benicia’s property values held up far better than the other cities in the county, with only a 17% drop in prices between ‘07 and ‘08, compared to 42% losses in Vallejo and Suisun, 35% in Fairfield/Green Valley and 28% in Vacaville. Overall, Benicia’s 17% loss in value is half the 36% loss experienced countywide.
These stats bear out what we’ve seen in the marketplace — that the biggest surge in market activity has occurred in the lowest priced, most affordable areas. Accordingly, those communities which have become the most affordable the quickest have enjoyed the biggest spike in sales activity.
But the downside to all of that is that in exchange for quicker sales (most of which have been of the distress-sale variety), property values in the most affordable communities have plummeted substantially — a sad reality that affects everyone still living in that community.
And so from that standpoint, Benicia has to be happy with its final numbers — not necessarily that it lost 17% of its value between 2007 and 2008. But it could have been far worse. Just ask any of the other cities in the county — all of whom would probably gladly take fewer sales if it meant higher property values.
